Here’s the latest rumours from the Swiss side.
They don’t have an operator and having serious issues finding one that has the equipment that can handle the approach and climb restrictions plus carry PAX, bags and ski’s from the UK.
Talks with Trade Air in Croatia for a F100 broke down, now they’re looking for an A319, but can’t find one. Plus, there’s plenty of nay-saying going on about getting a heavy A319 in or out… Sion has only ever had light A318’s and an empty A319.
Handling charges at Sion are high. Typical turnaround for a Fokker 100 is CHF2,500 excluding landing fee, nav fees, pax charges and de-icing.
Only 2 car rental offices with limited availability
Public transport connections not much shorter than Geneve (Verbier is around 2 hrs)
IFR flights down to 8,000 ft DA require a pilot qualification, under 8,000 a full qualification and training flight to validate qualification which is a significant expense.
+ there’s a potential trademark issue in the pipeline.